If you are a member of newsvine, it is assumed that it was a genuine interest in news articles that brought you here. Once you got comfortable and acclimated to the site, you became aware that this is an environment that allows you to personally add news content in the form of seeds, and add personal opinion about professionally authored articles, as well as author and publish your own articles. It is an environment that is intended to truly be primarily about world news and how it impacts readers. I quote, from the "About Newsvine" page:

Seattle-based Newsvine, Inc. was launched in March 2006 by a small team of like-minded colleagues with one purpose: to build a perfectly different, perfectly efficient way to read, write, and interact with the news.

My how things have changed. Recently I witnessed a newsvine article that started as an author's masturbatory celebration of himself, and turned into a giant circle jerk of congratulatory back patting from nearly everyone who joined in. What the hell has happened to newsvine?  This used to be a clearinghouse for interesting NEWS and provocative discussion, but it is slowly devolving into a bland social network.  Some members either seed every single article that they come across (regardless of value or level of interest), or they write articles that serve only to stoke their own egos.  This is self-serving behavior that has absolutely nothing in common with the mantra of "get smarter here."

If you are seeding dozens of articles a day, and getting little or no discussion from them, consider that a sign that you are not being the least bit discriminatory about what you are seeding, and that the rest of the community is cognizant that you are simply flooding the vine with anything and everything in an effort to boost your stats.  I probably peruse fifty articles a day, spread throughout the internet, but see no purpose in seeding 90% of them, since they just aren't that worthy of discussion.  If they are worthy, someone has most likely already seeded it.  I commonly will see the same article being seeded multiple times in the same groups by members too concerned with their own stats to check and see if they are being redundant.

Then there are those that seek to get digital praise over all the things that they think are so wonderful about themselves, as well as confirmation that those who disagree with them elsewhere on the vine are somehow "trolls."   There is a world of difference between a true troll and someone who simply disagrees with you.  It's perfectly logical to ignore someone who makes racist, inflammatory, or profoundly rude comments.  On the other hand, it is cowardly to ignore someone just because they don't agree with your argument, or use a curse word (gasp!!).  Doing so only implies that your argument is indefensible, particularly if it was you that chose to engage the other member in the first place.

I personally have witnessed a member post ridiculous positions in articles, and then rather than stick around to defend those positions, they abruptly abandoned the discussion on their argument and move on to writing more disturbingly stupid articles on – get this – "how to win a debate".  I've witnessed some members having silly, mean girl fights about he said/she said arguments, where so-and-so deleted comments from their article discussions and they aren't happy about it.  I've seen cat fights that could only be described as distinctly personal attacks, that don't get moderated by newsvine staff, while myself being silenced for calling out someone who spends a significant portion of their waking hours on newsvine spewing self-gratifying commentary regarding their own self-neutered newsvine interactions.  Grow a pair and stop running away with your tail between your legs while grinning and whispering "victory" to yourself.  If your argument is defensible, then defend it.

It's no wonder why some of the most prolific members have ditched newsvine.  One can safely assume that it is because this is no longer a place that promotes intelligent discourse.  I would much rather have back and forth debate resulting in a draw, or even losing, with someone who disagrees with me unilaterally while being incapable of correctly spelling or conjugating the English language, than to win a debate with a literate coward that is unwilling to show up and complete a discussion.  I can say this because I have been on both the winning and losing sides of arguments.  I can freely admit that sometimes I learn things in the process of debate that convince me I could be on the wrong side of an issue.  However, never have I abandoned ship without a significant exchange.

This site represents a magnificent and unique opportunity for intellectual growth. We could be discussing the issues that are threatening our freedoms, or movements that show promise for changing issues that society desperately needs to be improved upon, or sharing knowledge about technology and interests, or nurturing grass roots efforts for third party political representation. We could work on stamping out racism, or exposing Dominionism, or supporting equal rights, etc. - and many do through spirited and lively debate. However, I've seen an increase in the type of material that really belongs on Facebook with the rest of the mindless Internet drivel. That's my two cents. Maybe it's a bout time to move to a more serious forum.